MsAllegro writes: The IFC show "Dinner for Five" will have an episode featuring Sean Astin (Sam) coming up on Monday 5/13. It's episode #5, and also features Ray Romano, Bonnie Hunt, Kevin James, and the show's host, Jon Favreau, who co-starred with Sean in "Rudy." [More]

Martin Scorsese is in talks with Hollywood actress Liv Tyler to star in his next film. The American Goodfellas director wants Tyler to play the title role in his biopic about '50s pin-up Bettie Page. Scorsese is developing a script, and is said to be aiming to recruit Francis Ford Coppola to produce the drama next spring.

A few people have written in saying that The Two Towers trailer is playing on a large plasma screen at the NY Book Expo in New York City. And word is coming to my ears about the possibility of seeing it as a regular preview in theatres this month!

Since the release of The Fellowship of the Ring, Tolkien's infamous Trilogy has had a resurgence in interest from non-fans, with both young and old picking up a copy of Lord of the Rings in their local bookshop after falling in love with characters such as Frodo Baggins, Gandalf and Strider on the silver screen. However, the Lord of the Rings trilogy goes hand-in-hand with two other pieces....The Hobbit and The Silmarillion. This weekend, the Hall of Fire crew invite you to join us as we discuss The Guide to Reading (and Enjoying) the Silmarilion. [More]

Cynthia writes: The Early Show on CBS (7:00am to 9:00 am weekdays) is offering a sweepstakes featuring a 10-day trip to New Zealand (US residents 21 and over). Entries can be made up til May 9. To enter, go here to and click on "Amazing Trip". Next week some time they are going to do a short piece on the filming of LOTR in New Zealand.

Deegan writes: Just thought I'd let you guys know that on May 16 in Australia, channel 9 will be airing a special edition of their 'Getaway' series called 'Getaway to the Movies'. Some of the places they will be visiting include filming locations for Harry Potter and Lord of the Rings!

Stephanie writes: On May 19th RTL 2 shows in their magazine "Das TV Movie Magazin" exclusively the Trailer for TTT. The magazine starts at 13:25 GMT time and can be seen throughout Europe and Northern Africa with a satellite dish. The TV station airs unscrambled. I have no idea if the trailer will be German voiced or in English.

From IMDB: Quentin Tarantino is dusting off another Marvel comic-book character, Mort the Dead Teenager, who was originally created with a movie version in mind, Roger Friedman of Foxnews.com reported Wednesday. Larry Hama, who wrote the four issues of the Mort series, told Friedman that when he was at Marvel, "I thought we should come up with some new characters who could be turned into movie characters." Unfortunately, he said, the Mort comics -- about a teenager who was decapitated in a train accident -- were regarded by Marvel as "too dark and too hip," went out of print, and became a cult classic. The film will likely be directed by Dean Paraskevopoulos and star Elijah Wood in the title role, Friedman said. Tarantino and partner Lawrence Bender's A Band Apart Productions will coproduce the movie with Madonna's Maverick Films; Dimension/Miramax will distribute.

We have received countless emails letting us know that some misguided person has started an online petition to try to convince Peter Jackson and New Line Cinema that the film of The Two Towers should be renamed in light of the events of September 11. Their reasoning behind the petition is that the title "is clearly meant to refer to the attacks on the World Trade Center," and that PJ & Co. are simply trying to "cash in" on the tragedy. For obvious reasons, not the least of which being that the second installment of The Lord of the Rings was named The Two Towers nearly 50 years before the September 11 attacks, we at TheOneRing.net consider this petition to be rather pointless and ignorant, and judging from the sarcastic and disgusted remarks in the petition itself, so do most of the people who signed it. (UPDATE: Yes, we are aware that there is a counter-petition out there. However, we do not usually link to petitions, positive or negative.)

Wellington is set to reap the rewards of Lord Of The Rings tourism. Upper Hutt reports at least two sets of American visitors visiting the city specifically to see sites where scenes from the trilogy were filmed. [More]

Games Workshop’s big summer event! Six weeks packed with activities focused around the first 10 minutes of amazing footage from The Fellowship of the Ring, as players throughout North America refight the epic conflict with hundreds of armies and thousands of The Lord of the Rings miniatures. [More]

Legend Winterhawk writes: My group of seven, known as the Michiganders, arrived at the International Center for Photography at just after five and there was already a pretty good line. Like us, most of those seemed to be from Billy Boyd's official website. We had traveled to New York to see Billy at ICON the next day and decided to make the trip to Manhattan to see Viggo when we'd learned he was appearing at ICP. [More]

Macedonia, Molokai, Middle Earth and Barwon Heads - all have been home to David Wenham in the past few chaotic years as his acting career has kicked into overdrive. But while leper colonies, former war zones, mythical kingdoms and seaside retreats near Geelong all have their appeal, right now Wenham has Melbourne on his mind. [More]

There's a report from the Waikato Times updating us on how hobbit extra Jeffery Hawkes is recovering from his accident. The article mentions the 1000 emails he's had from LOTR fans [including many TORNadoes] from around the world. [More] Thanks to Widfara for the link.

Much has been made of New Line founder Bob Shaye's gutsy decision to bankroll the "Lord of the Rings" trilogy, but what hasn't gotten enough attention is how much Peter Jackson helped his own cause by paying $50,000 to make a 30-minute short film. [More]

john Cook writes: I've published a new Lord of the Rings cartoon punchline contest featuring a caricature of Saruman in his amazing technicolor coat (which appears in the book though unfortunately doesn't make it into the movie). Reader submit Gandalf's response and the funniest punchline will be chosen by readers in a week's time. You can read the many hilarious punchlines already submitted or submit your own punchlines here. [More]

Movie sets around the world may grind to a halt today if they feature any US actors. America's Screen Actors' Guild has ordered its members to stop working on projects outside the US if their contracts have not been negotiated by the union. [More]

People in the Bay Area will have heard of the Bay to Breakers race which happens on May 19th this year. Apart from the people actually trying to come first, there's thousands of people that just walk the track dressed in tutus and playing the tuba or something. Anyone interested in making up a party of elves, hobbits and rangers can email me and we'll see how big a TORN Fellowship we can drum up.

Not much happening this morning....don't forget we're asking you to submit questions for Christopher Lee. Yours might be one of the 20 questions that we ask him. [More] Meanwhile speaking of 20 Questions, anyone remember the very first interview on AICN where PJ talked about the films? Take a trip down memory lane here and here

Good news for Tolkien fans in Texas. There is a Christian conference coming up on May 11 in Austin, Texas regarding CS Lewis. One of the topics to be presented is "Wartime Wisdom: Ten Uncommon Insights about Evil in The Lord of the Rings". [More] Thanks to Matt for the link.

TORONTO (CP) - The magic makers who created the special effects for Lord of the Rings: Fellowship of the Ring will attend the Banff international television festival in June to demonstrate their screen wizardry. The New Zealand-based post-production companies include Weta Workshop, Weta Digital, the Film Unit and Oktober. [More]

Don't forget to enter the Two Towers Teaser Poster contest! This is your chance to design a poster for The Two Towers and win great prizes. The first place winner gets a Sam and Bill the Pony statue and a Ted Nasmith signed poster! The contest ends May 15th. [More]

A Motueka horseman is seeking compensation for the injuries his horses allegedly suffered during filming of The Lord of the Rings. Rand Colgan, also known as Harmony Aquarian, is taking director Peter Jackson's production company, Three Foot Six, to a disputes tribunal hearing in the Nelson District Court today. [More]

Kiratashi writes: While watching TV tonight I thought I recognized the guy in a commercial, it was Orlando Bloom (Legolas) walking down a street with a girl!! Everyone else on the street starts chasing after them and they start running. Then it fades out and says "Gap".

Calisuri- I saw the ad last night during one of the final episdoes of the X-files. (Good episode last night btw!) The girl was Kate Beckinsale and Cameron Crowe supposedly directed it.

Missed all the news this weekend? Watching one of the final X-Files? Or the Montreal Canadians preparing to take out the Boston Bruins? Or were you sleeping your weekend away like I was? Whatever the reason take a look at our "Weekend Round Up" to get you back on course! [More]